I saw an interesting tree on my hike around Lake Norman State Park. A portion of the tree was growing horizontally, about eye level, probably bent over as a sapling by a fallen tree, now long gone. It provided a perfect woodsy billboard for someone to carve, “He stole my heart.”
This is a term of deep affection. The ‘thief’ has caused another to fall madly in love with him.
In the beautiful love story described in the Song of Songs, the term comes up again:
You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eye. (Song of Songs, 4:9, NIV)
In the Song of Songs, the intense pursuit of the lover pursuing his beloved is often used as a metaphor for the longing Jesus has for you and me. He wants us to be the thief. In this couplet, the beloved stole the heart of her Lord ‘with one glance of her eye.’
How can we ‘steal the Lord’s heart?’ One way is a loving and devoted gaze, always keeping our eyes fixed on the Lord “as the eyes of a maid looks to the hand of her mistress.” (PS 123:2)
Pope Francis answers the question differently in his newly released encyclical Dilexit Nos (He Loved Us). In this heartwarming devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he said, “Even in the most simple and ordinary things we can “steal” the Lord’s heart.” (178) He then goes on to quote Saint Francis de Sales, the forerunner of promoting an everyday spirituality. “Give heed not only to lofty and important matters, but to little things, since by both we may win his heart and love…”
Think of a time when someone stole your heart. Remember your longing to be with that person and the inner ache you felt when you couldn’t. Remember wanting nothing more than to have the other ask you to do something and the joy of doing anything the heart-thief asked. That is a small taste of the Lord’s infinite longing and desire for you.
He wants you to steal his heart. Stealing his heart might be as easy as having an attentive gaze towards the beloved and doing simple acts of love.
I sometimes focus on the command to “Love the Lord.” The tree reminded me the intensed desire the Lord has to love me. The Lord wants to carve in a place where all can see, “You have stolen my heart.”
How can you steal the Lord’s heart today?